Recently, hospitals have come to recognize the benefit of combining in one space imaging systems (e.g., X-ray) and operating rooms for invasive surgery. These spaces, which have come to be known as hybrid operating rooms (“ORs”), require extensive modification of existing healthcare facilities. Hybrid ORs require substantially more free space than conventional ORs because imaging equipment must be accommodated along with conventional OR equipment such as operating tables. Further, because imaging equipment is heavy, the internal structure in the space housing a conventional OR is frequently not designed to support the weight of such imaging equipment.
Healthcare facilities often build new structures to house a hybrid OR. Because a significant planning and capital investment is required to build such structures, it often takes a number of years to construct a hybrid OR. Renovating existing healthcare space to house a hybrid OR can sometimes be completed faster than building a new structure to house a hybrid OR, and in some cases at lower cost. Regardless of whether space for a hybrid OR is newly constructed or renovated, a need often exists for such space for a number of years before construction is completed. Existing mobile surgery units are not believed to satisfy the various requirements for hybrid ORs, in part because they lack the structure required to suspend from the ceiling the heavy equipment used in a hybrid OR. Indeed, known mobile surgery units typically cannot be used to suspend more than about 500 pounds from the ceiling of the unit, at least while still staying within other design parameters (e.g., snow loading) for the unit.